H2O: The Next Generation
by KatAndEmmy
Summary: A couple of years after graduation the h2o gang splits up. Years later, they all have children and become friends again. At the age of thirteen, Emma, Cleo and Rikki's daughters stumble upon the moon pool and become mermaids together. Will their parents find out their secret? Will they find out the old secret of their parents? What other adventures will they encounter?
1. Chapter 1

**A/N: Hey guys! Kat here! So this is our continuation for H2O: The Next Generation that I started on my old account. It's going to be slightly different, but it's going to have the same outcome and whatever. Now, here's the first chapter:**

* * *

**Chapter One**

**No POV**

Lola Chadwick, more commonly referred to as Lolly amongst her friends and family, entered her new bedroom and smiled. After casting a quick glance around the room, she knew it was going to be perfect. Especially when she saw she had a window seat. She sat on it, noting how comfy the cushions were, and her smile stretched even wider when she saw what an amazing view she had – one that looked right out onto the beach, with its beautiful clear blue sea and bright golden grains of sand.

In the bedroom next door to Lolly's, her twin brother Daniel, more commonly known as Dan, admired his new bedroom. Suddenly, his sister barged in and asked excitedly if he wanted to go to the beach with her. Grinning, he replied yes, and the two walked away to find their mother, Rikki.

Rikki was downstairs in the kitchen. Her and her two children had just moved to the Gold Coast from the other side of Australia. Being Rikki's childhood home, she allowed her own children to explore the area, as she knew where everywhere was in case something happened. Once Lolly and Dan had left the house, Rikki decided to go out too. It was such a gorgeous day, and she might even run into some old friends. Perhaps even an old boyfriend…

* * *

Emma Dove strolled along the sand, hand in hand with her husband Ash. Their daughter Rebecca, or Becca, trailed behind them. She was quite fed up. She had just moved to the Gold Coast from America, and she didn't have any friends in Australia at all. She just hoped she would make some soon. As much as her parents had wanted her to come to the beach today, she hadn't wanted to go. And they seemed quite content now by themselves anyway. Becca's only hope was that she would run in to someone her own age – quite literally, as she wasn't in the mood to talk to someone otherwise – and become friends with him or her, preferably him.

In front of Becca, her parents were simply enjoying the beautiful day. Emma was watching the water. She was so glad that she was finally back in Australia – she loved it there. She had especially missed the sparkling waves. Even more so since she had given up her mermaid powers, and was finally free to swim in public waters again. Ash was just happy that he could swim with Emma. Of course, he had been able to swim with her as a mermaid too, but her powerful tail had made it hard to keep up with her, as magnificent as it was. Suddenly, with the thought in her mind, Emma asked Ash to go for a swim with her. He grinned, and they told Becca where they were going, before dashing to the crystal-like sea.

* * *

Melody McCartney, also known as Mel to her family and friends, stepped off of the train and in to the sunshine. She had just spent a long day in the shopping centre with her friends. She began to head home, choosing to take a longer route through the beach, with the weather in mind.

As Mel started to walk on the sand, taking off her shoes to avoid getting any in them, she noticed there weren't too many people on the beach. There were a few people who looked about her own age though and she figured they were probably new, because she hadn't seen them at her school before – or anywhere for that matter – and that was the only  
local school they would go to. One girl who seemed around her own age had her parents with her, and was trudging along behind them. The girl looked slightly familiar, though Mel didn't know why because she'd definitely never seen her before. The girl had a light tan, and straight, shoulder length blonde hair. Mel looked at her parents then, and noticed with surprise that they were familiar too. In fact, she was sure she had seen them together as a couple before. They just seemed a lot older now that whenever it was that she had seen them before.

Then she looked at two other people, the same age, who looked very alike so must have been brother and sister. The girl had long platinum blonde locks, but the boy had much shorter brown hair. For some unknown reason, they were both a little familiar too. Suddenly, Mel realised why they looked so familiar – they looked like people she had seen in some of her parents' old photos. Of course, the children couldn't have been in her photos unless they had gotten younger, which was impossible, so they must have just deeply resembled their parents or something. Soon enough, Mel had introduced herself to the three children and two adults, and she had them all meet each other too. She couldn't wait to tell her parents who she had met today!

* * *

A few weeks after those events, Mel answered the front door to see Emma, Ash and Becca standing in front of her, closely followed by Rikki, Lolly and Dan. She grinned. "Glad you could all make it. Come on in."

As Cleo and Lewis were happily reunited with their old friends, their children slunk away and began to converse with one another. Except for Dan, who claimed he didn't want to talk to a bunch of boring girls, and would much rather sit with the boring adults.

"Yeah, more likely spy on them," Lolly muttered as Dan walked away. Then she smiled as the other girls laughed. "So, Mel, it was nice of you to invite us. I can see how happy our parents are now."

"Yeah, it really is. It's awesome how you recognised our parents from the photos," Becca added.

Mel blushed scarlet from the compliments. "Well, I do try," she said, winking.

The girls chattered non-stop all night, with Dan occasionally interrupting, and so did their parents. By the end of the night, everyone was positively beaming on the inside and out. They all knew that their friendships would last a long time after this.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Hey guys! Kat here! I'd like to thank savannahharmon16 (it won't let me put the dots in coz it deletes it... dumb thing...), missrikkijackson, BeyondYourImagination, and alexiswritesfanfiction for favouriting and following this in under 24 hours! Especially BeyondYourImagination who also reviewed :D Seriously, I never in my wildest dreams thought I would get 4 follows, 4 favourites and 1 review in such short time. But I guess I have to thank Emmy too for helping me so yeah, whatever, thanks Emmy... ;) Now, here's chapter 2! :P**

* * *

**Chapter Two**

**Lolly's POV**

_"What is this place…?" Mel asks, in awe of the cave she's in._

_Becca, Mel and I are stuck in some sort of volcano type cave. There's a pool of water, and according to Becca it probably leads to the sea. It seems to be our only way out._

_"I'm going to dive in and take a look for a way out," I tell the others, then do as I say._

_As I dive in, I notice how calm and clear the water is. It's strange, and I stay still for a moment, thinking about it. Suddenly, I realise I'm running out of air, and continue swimming. Once I'm sure there's a way out, I swim back to Mel and Becca._

_"I've found an exit," I tell them. "Come on in. We'd better go as soon as we can."_

_My best friends jump into the water, and we're about to dive completely under, when Becca stops us all._

_"What's happening…?" She whispers, and looks at Mel and me, then around us. I look too. Bubbles are rising from the water, as the moonlight shines on it. It's enticing. Then, as quickly as it starts, it ends, disappearing with the full moon._

_"That was… weird," Mel says._

_"But kinda cool," I give my own opinion. "C'mon, let's get out of here – the sooner the better. I'm not sure what that was, but it'll be better if we just leave it. Come on."_

_With that, we duck underwater, and swim to safety._

* * *

"I had another one of those dreams last night," I tell Becca and Mel as the three of us sip milkshakes at a booth in Rikki's Café. It's pretty cool how this place is named after my mum. It was shut for years – decades even – ever since my parents left the Gold Coast. But then we moved back here when Dan and I were thirteen years old, nearly three years ago now, and Mum noticed the café was still shut. She took it into her care, not even having to buy it because it was already hers, and now it's open again – and sells great food and drink, if I do say so myself.

"What happened?" Becca asks me, referring to the dream.

"I just kind of reinvented the night that… _it _happened, but in a dream. It was so weird," I reply, talking about the night we became mermaids. I know what you're thinking – mermaids don't exist. They're just a myth, and I should stop messing around and making up lies like that. Well, believe it or not, Mel, Becca and me having mermaid tails whenever we get wet is, in fact, one hundred percent true. We've even got the pictures to prove it. I guess  
taking pictures of ourselves as mermaids could be pretty dangerous, but it can't be that bad an idea, surely, or Becca would have warned me and Mel, being the sensible and organised person that she is.

"I don't really know why, but I have this feeling like something really bad is going to happen on this next full moon," Becca says.

"Why?" I ask.

"Well, you only started having those dreams since last week, right? And that was the last full moon, I think. According to Luke, anyway, and you know what he's like with all that stuff."

Mel smiles at Becca's mention of her boyfriend, Luke Griffin. Luke is a big fan of astronomy. All I could tell you about the night sky, however, is that it's dark.

"Well yeah, but I would have thought that's just a coincidence that it happened on the night of a full moon. I know we're pretty sure that the full moon has a connection to us growing tails, but still…"

"I don't know, I just have a feeling. Maybe it happened on the last full moon, because the moon was trying to… communicate with you. It was trying to tell you that the next time it appeared it would do something bad, or whatever."

"Communicate with me?" I repeat. "Seriously, Bex, the moon is not _alive; _it's just a _thing _– just a weird and enormous piece of rock, floating in space. Stop stressing. The only bad thing happening on the next full moon is me having to help take down decorations from my birthday party. And the actual party will stop me from being too down about that."

"Oh yeah, it's your birthday soon, isn't it? So that means the next full moon is on the 8th of November, then," Mel says. "Well Becca, that gives us plenty of time to work out if your theory is correct or not – it's only the 17th of October now."

"All right, we'll just leave it for now, if it makes you happy," Becca gives in with a sigh.

I smile. "Well I've got to go and help Dan with something, so I'll call you two later. Bye."

"Lolly… is helping someone?" I hear Becca ask as I turn away.

"Not a chance," Mel tells her, and I can hear the smile in her voice.

* * *

Becca and Mel were right about me never helping anyone. The only person I help is me, which is exactly what I'm doing right now. I know I said Becca's theory was kind of stupid, and I'm still sure it is – we've experienced plenty of full moons, mermaid and human, and nothing out of the ordinary has happened before. Well, except for the first night we transformed, but I'm sure that was just a one off. Still, it would make me feel better to look up something about the full moon, considering my birthday party will be outside at night, therefore involving us being exposed to the full moon.

So I turn on my laptop and begin to research, even though I'm sure I won't find anything of any use to us. However, I do end up finding something:

_On the night of a planetary alignment, any mermaid who is in the moon pool when the full moon passes overhead will gain more powers. On the night of a Lunar Eclipse, any mermaid who is in the moon pool when the full moon falls overhead shall have their powers drawn away for 12 hours. When all of the planets align with the moon, any mermaid who is in the moon pool when the moon comes over head will lose their powers forever._

It's not a very long piece of writing, but considering most people online – or anywhere at all for that matter – aren't mermaids, it's a good start, at least. I copy it on to a piece of paper which I then fold up and lock in my jewellery box (which I don't actually use for jewellery at all, so much as secret and usually mermaid related things). I'll show it to the other two sometime closer to the full moon – AKA my birthday. I turn my attentions to my birthday now. The party's going to be awesome. I find another piece of paper, and begin to write a list of who to invite. Well, I say of who to invite, but it ends up as more of a list of who _not _to invite…

* * *

I glide through the vast ocean, smiling at the beauty of the sea life. I'm surrounded by underwater plants, and colourful fish and smiling dolphins. Sometimes the dolphins even let us swim with them. It's pretty cool really, if you ask me.

I've been swimming for about fifteen minutes now, without even coming up for breath. It's amazing how long I can do this for as a mermaid. Usually, I can only hold my breath for about a minute at the most and if I'm swimming at the same time, it should be for even less time. My thoughts begin to wander to things like this, but suddenly I remember my mission. I'm here to find the moon pool, not to think about how amazing it is to be a mermaid, and how beautiful the underwater world is. I set my mind to focus on what I'm trying to do.

However, I turn to head back home after a half hour without any success. But as I'm about to swim back, I notice something shiny on the seabed that really stands out. Frowning, I swim down towards it. I move away the sand that covers part of it to see what it is – a locket. I stay there for a moment, wondering what to do with it. Eventually, I decide to take it back home with me and puzzle over it there. So, locket in hand, I head back to the land as fast as I can, unable to wait to show Becca and Mel my discovery.

* * *

"That is _so weird,_" Mel says, once I've finished telling her and Becca about the locket, and shown it to them. "So it was just lying there, buried underneath all that sand?"

"Pretty much," I reply, nodding.

"It kind of reminds me of something…" Becca frowns. "I'm just not quite sure what, or why."

"Well I'll take it back home. Take a picture of it, Becca, in case you remember about that… something that it reminds you of."

Becca nods and takes a picture on her mobile phone, and then Mel does the same, just in case of something that I'm not entirely sure of – I think she just wanted a picture because it was pretty, but that's Mel for you.

* * *

I toss and turn in my bed, unable to sleep. Eventually, my duvet ends up being chucked on the floor, along with a few cushions. I sit up and check my mobile. The time reads 01:48, which means I haven't slept a wink for about 24 hours, because my strange dream woke me up around this time last night. I slide my hand underneath my pillow to put my phone there. As I let go of my phone, I feel the locket under my hand. It's so cold that it burns, and I pull my hand back as quick as I can. There's something weird about that necklace. I really should have left it with Becca. I decide to give it to her first thing tomorrow morning. Sighing, I make my bed again and lay on it, trying to get some sleep before that history test I'm totally going to flunk tomorrow…


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter Three**

**Becca's POV**

I wake up to the sound of my mobile playing the song 'Where We Belong' by Kate Alexa. This means that the phone call I'm receiving is from one of two people – either Mel or Lolly. I've set this ringtone for both the girls because it most certainly relates to our mermaid situation.

I check the screen and the caller ID tells me that it's from Lolly. I answer it.

"Hey Lols," I say. "What's up?"

"I'll be at your house with that _stupid _locket in a half hour. Be ready," she snaps, and hangs up. Okay…

I ring Mel.

"Hello?" she answers sleepily, after a few rings.

"Hey, Mel. Can you come over in about half an hour? Lolly just called me for about five seconds and told me that she was coming to my house in half an hour, and to be honest, I'm kinda scared to be in the house alone with her, because there really seemed to be something bothering her."

"Well… that sounds weird. I'll be there soon. I'm going to get ready, but I'll see you soon."

"Bye," I say, just before Mel cuts off the call.

* * *

Fortunately for me, Mel turns up outside my house a few minutes before Lolly. But when Lolly does get here, she seems rather cross about something. She thrusts the locket at me the second I close the door.

"So I hope you don't mind me asking, but what was so bad about this that made you want to be rid of it so quickly?" I ask.

"There's just something… _weird _about it," she replies as she sits down, sighing. "Last night, I couldn't sleep. I checked the time on my phone, and put it back under my pillow. And when I let go of my phone, I felt the locket. It was freezing – so cold that it burned."

"Wow. It must have been pretty cold. Maybe it just doesn't like you…?" I suggest, quite daringly given Lolly's current temper. Luckily, she doesn't seem to mind me saying so too much – she only gives me a 'not funny' look.

"Anyway… I'll keep it here, and I'll tell you both if I remember why I recognised it."

"Thanks Becca. I don't want that thing in my house any longer," Lolly says with a small shiver. I can see that the necklace really has her scared, which is not an emotion she likes to show.

I check the time, and realise that we should leave for school now or we'll be late. We pick up our school bags and leave. As we walk, I notice that Lolly still seems to be freaked out over the locket. I remind her about the history test though, and soon enough she's forgotten all about the locket, preoccupied with thoughts of the test.

* * *

Now that I'm holding the necklace and looking at the actual thing rather than a photo, I can see that it has a strange pattern on the front, and a white gemstone. The pattern is really just some squiggly lines, but it reminds me of waves. My guess is that it used to belong to another mermaid, but then again, how would I recognise it if it had?

Suddenly, I hear a knock on my bedroom door, breaking into my thoughts.

"Come in," I say.

My mum comes in carrying a tray with buttered toast and water on it.

"How long have you been up for?" she asks, looking at the time. "It's quite early, and this was supposed to be breakfast in bed…"

I smile, and jump back on to my bed and get under the covers.

"Well, it's never too late. Now give me the food already – I'm starved."

Mum smiles and walks over to me. As she hands me the tray, she notices the locket and frowns.

"What's that you've got?" she asks curiously.

"Oh, it's just a necklace. I, um, bought it when I went shopping with Lolly and Mel yesterday."

It's been nearly a week since Lolly gave me the locket, and since we had the history test. We found out on Friday that we all passed, and we went shopping yesterday to celebrate.

"Oh… okay…" Mum says, deep in thought. I wonder what's up with her… Suddenly, a thought occurs to me – maybe Mum recognises the locket too. It would explain why she's acting so strange.

"Hey, Mum," I stop her as she's about to leave. "Is this locket familiar to you? I recognised it when I bought it, so I was wondering if you know why it's so familiar…?"

"Actually, I do recognise it. Could I see it for a minute?"

I nod and pass Mum the locket. She fiddles with it for a little while, frowning.

"Could I borrow this for a little while? I might be able to work out what's so familiar about it," she asks, saying the words as if she's saying a prepared speech.

"Sure," I reply, nodding. With that, Mum leaves, taking the necklace along with her.

That was kind of weird. There must be a strong connection with Mum and that locket – she nearly fainted at the sight of it. I puzzle over it for a few minutes as I eat my toast, and carefully sip my water. When I'm finished, curiosity gets the better of me. I tiptoe downstairs, bringing the tray as a cover in case Mum or Dad see me.

"It's exactly the same as I remember…" Mum is saying quietly. She's holding the phone up to her ear in one hand, and she's grasping the locket tightly in the other.

There's a pause as the person on the other end of the line replies. Then Mum continues, "Yes Cleo, I know I'm probably just being silly, but we ditched the necklaces. How did they just turn up in a shop? I thought they were gone forever."

There's another pause, then Mum says bye to Cleo and puts the phone down. She sighs, and stays where she's sitting. I wonder what they were talking about. Well, obviously they were talking about the locket, but I wonder what the connection was, and why Mum seems so shocked about it suddenly turning up. Then again, it's no wonder she's in shock considering the necklace was abandoned at the bottom of the ocean… but that just adds more questions. Like how the locket ended up there if it belonged to Mum, or maybe Cleo or Rikki. Well I know one thing for sure – Lolly was definitely right about the locket being weird. Perhaps a little weirder than she thought. A little weirder than any of us could have ever thought, even.

* * *

"To be honest, what I'm wondering is if our parents are keeping a little secret of their own," Mel admits once I've finished telling her and Lolly about our parents and the locket.

"You don't think…?" Lolly begins, then gestures to a glass of water beside her, showing that their secret could be water related. Or, more precisely, mermaid related.

"But they can't be mermaids," I puzzle. "We've all seen them get wet before."

Mel frowns. "Maybe they aren't, but maybe… maybe they used to be…"

"No, that's just too weird," I say, shaking my head. "It would be a pretty big coincidence, don't you think?"

"Well that's the thing. It might not be a coincidence. Maybe we were meant to become mermaids," Lolly says. "Maybe… maybe… um…" she trails off.

I sigh. "We keep saying maybe, but we need to know for sure."

"But how would we find out?" Lolly asks.

"We could ask them. No, bad idea, we might be wrong…" she changes her mind.

"We could spy on them," Lolly suggests.

"Good idea," Mel nods. "Becca?"

"Well… um… I don't know…" I hesitate while the other two look at me pleadingly.

"Come on, Becca, please?" Lolly begs.

Finally, I give up trying to be sensible. What's it worth when you're a mermaid anyway?

"Okay, yeah, I'm in."


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter Four**

**Mel's POV**

"Morning," I say to Mum as I walk downstairs, sleepily, still wearing my pyjamas.

"Good morning," she says.

I sit down at the kitchen table and Mum puts a plate of toast with jam on it in front of me.

"Jam?" I ask with one eyebrow raised. "Come on, Mum, you've known me for almost sixteen years! You should know by now that I have butter on my toast!"

"Sorry Mel. I'll have that, and you can have my cereal." She hands me her bowl of cereal – which isn't amazing but I suppose it's better than jam – and I begin to eat it. As I eat, I wonder what's got Mum so distracted this morning. Maybe it's something to do with the locket?

Suddenly, my phone beeps, signalling that I have a text and breaking into my thoughts. I pick up my phone to find that it's from Lolly, inviting me and Becca to her house in about half an hour.

I stand up to go and get changed, without realising that Mum's standing right behind me with a glass of water. It spills all over me, and my eyes widen.

"Um… I'm meeting Lolly and Becca in a half hour so I'm going to get changed and stuff now," I say to Mum frantically, and then quickly race upstairs before she can reply.

* * *

"Hey Lolly, hey Becca," I greet my best friends as they open the front door. I sit down and ask, "So… what's up?"

"Well first, have you started any spying yet?" Lolly asks.

"Not really, but my Mum was acting a little weird when I got up this morning. I guess that could be to do with the locket."

"My Mum was too," Becca says, nodding.

"My Mum wasn't but I did find something," Lolly reports.

"What?" I ask curiously.

"Well when I woke up, Mum had already left for work and Dan was asleep, and I figured that it would be a perfect time to do a little sleuthing. So I was looking in Mum's bedroom to see if there was some clue or whatever there, and I came across this box which had a lock on it. So I thought that it could be important and I looked for a key but I didn't find one. But that's all I've got."

"Okay…" I frown. "How are we going to unlock it then?"

"Lolly, can I borrow a hair pin?" Becca asks.

"Um… sure." Lolly pulls one out of her blonde curls and tosses it to Becca. "Why?"

Instead of answering her, Becca asks where the box is, and Lolly points to it on the kitchen table. Becca walks over to it, and Lolly and I exchange confused looks. But we finally realise that Becca was picking the lock when she walks back over to us with the box open.

"There you go," she says, smiling.

"Right, let's see what's inside it then," I say.

Lolly kneels on the floor and spreads out the contents of the box in front of her. There isn't much in there but we can instantly see that it's related to the lockets.

There's a photo of Mum, Emma and Rikki and they're all wearing identical lockets – identical to each other's and to the one Lolly found. There's also a piece of paper with some faded writing on it. While Becca and Lolly look at the photo, I puzzle over the writing. A few bits are much too faint to see, but the parts I do see add to my suspicion over the mermaid thing.

"Guys, look at this." I beckon the others over to me and they both come towards me.

"Look," I say again, pointing to the words that I can actually read – Mako, moon, water and mermaid.

* * *

I stare at the piece of paper next to me. It's been a couple of days since we found it and we still have no clue what it means. I sigh in frustration. We can't just let go of something this important, but how are we supposed to read it? Suddenly, my phone beeps. I pick it up and see a text from Becca: _I've got it – hydrochloric acid. Meet me and Lolly at the café in an hour._

Hydrochloric acid? Whatever it is that she's going on about, I have no clue, but it seems important so I simply shrug and get ready.

* * *

"Hydrochloric acid?" Lolly asks as she joins Becca and me at the booth we're sitting at in the café.

"Yep," Becca replies. Seeing our confused looks, she continues. "Well I looked up online how to restore faded ink and I found out that if you brush hydrochloric acid on it, it should show up after a few hours or so."

"Okay. So… where are we going to get this stuff from?" I ask.

"Er… well… that's what I'm stuck on."

"I guess there might be some in school," Lolly chips in.

"Alright then," I say. "But it's not as if we can just steal it…"

"Well maybe we could just _borrow _it?" Lolly suggests.

"Actually, we should probably just make sure no one's around us when we take it, then really quickly brush it onto the page, and then put it back all within about five minutes," Becca recommends.

"Well I'd prefer to steal it… but okay," Lolly says, sticking out her tongue and winking.

"Oh yeah, and I got the locket back from my mum," Becca changes the subject, gesturing to it on her neck.

"Cool. Speaking of the locket, have you found any more clues?" I ask.

"Nope. I thought we were sure about them being mermaids though," she replies, lowering her voice at the word mermaids.

"I guess," I say.

We all sit in silence for a few moments, sipping cokes, when a small sound suddenly snaps me out of my thoughts.

"Yes!" Becca practically shouts.

"What?" Lolly and I ask at the same time.

"I was trying to get this thing open," she starts, pointing to her locket, and I realise that was what made the noise. "But I couldn't," she continues. "And just now I was fiddling with it and it just… opened."

"What's inside it?" I ask curiously.

Becca shrugs then takes off the necklace to see if there's a photo. Once she's taken it off, she takes one look at it and gasps.

I frown, and walk around the table to look at the picture over her shoulder. When I see it, I mimic her actions, and whisper, "Oh… my… God…"

* * *

**A/N: I know you probably already know what the picture is inside the locket, but still... don't you just love cliffhangers? ;)**

**By the way, I know we've uploaded four chapters in four days and everything but don't be expecting us to update as often as that anymore because these first few chapters were written before this story was uploaded. We've already got some of the next chapter done (Lolly's birthday/full moon) but not all of it so yeah :P And once school starts up again it will hopefully be updated once a week. Just to let you know. Well, have a nice life!**

**-Kat xxx**


	5. Chapter 5

**A/N: Seriously guys, I need some more reviews. Just saying. Please? Like, a review for a review... A follow for a follow... A favourite for a favourite...? ;)**

* * *

**Chapter Five**

**Becca's POV**

I arrive at Lolly's house with a birthday card and a gift in hand, and with Mel at my side. Lolly's in the garden when we get there and she runs over to us as soon as she sees us.

"Happy birthday Lols!" Mel says, grinning, and hands her a card and gift.

I say happy birthday too, then give her my card and gift. Then I say, "Very grown up," and wink. I'm talking about Lolly's dress. It's purple, short, tight, and glittery. It really is grown up. I've never seen Lolly wear anything like that before.

Dan walks over to us.

"Hey Mel, Becca," he says, smiling.

"Having a good birthday, Lols?" he asks.

"The best!" his twin replies in a shriek.

"Gee, you're hurting my ears!" Dan laughs. "So… are you drunk, or just hyper?" he asks, and I'm pretty sure he's only half joking.

Lolly seems to consider it for a moment then replies, "A bit of both, I think."

I raise an eyebrow and Mel laughs.

"Come on Becca, we're sixteen now. Live a little!"

"Yeah Becca – don't be so sensible," Dan jokes. I look at him and can't keep myself from laughing. His caramel coloured fringe is covering nearly half of his face and as I look up at him, he comically flicks it out of the way, revealing his chocolate brown eyes as round and pleading.

I stare into his smiling eyes and he stares back into my own pale blue eyes, but then Luke arrives and the moment is ruined. Lolly, Mel and Dan go to greet him, and I stay where I am for a few seconds before following the other three.

* * *

It's nearly ten in the evening now. It's been a really good day so far. I'm sitting on one of the logs laid around the bonfire by myself, Lolly's shamelessly flirting with one of Dan's friends Kyle Smith, and Mel's sitting on another log with Luke. As I stare into the orange flames, Dan sits down next to me.

"Hey," he says. "You looked lonely."

"Hi," I say back, smiling. "I'm not lonely, just thinking." Actually, I was kind of lonely but that doesn't matter right now. All I care about for the moment is that Dan's sitting next to me. I know he's Lolly's brother, so I guess he's kind of off limits, but still – Lolly is the one flirting with someone she hardly knows, after all.

Kyle walks off after a while, and Lolly spots me and Dan and comes to sit with us.

"What was that about with Kyle?" Dan teases.

Lolly sticks her tongue out. "Well, he's a boy. And he's kinda cute."

"So am I, but that doesn't stop you from flirting with me," Dan says winking.

"Dan, ew," Lolly says with fake annoyance, then continues, "But he seems a little arrogant if you ask me."

"Oh, well you're perfect match then!" Dan jokes.

"Well Dan, perhaps you would be a perfect match for him."

Dan elbows his sister, laughing. Then Mel and Luke join us. We all chat for a while, and everything seems to be going fine. Until, that is, Mel looks up at the night sky and goes all hypnotised on us. She just randomly stops talking mid-sentence, and I look to Lolly and mouth, "You don't think…?"

But she obviously is thinking the same thing as me, because she finishes my sentence by mouthing back, "The full moon," and nods.

While Dan and Luke try to figure out what's wrong with Mel, Lolly and I sneak a few steps away.

"Whatever you do, do not, under any circumstances, look at the full moon," Lolly warns me, staring at her feet.

I nod in agreement, even though Lolly can't see me, and try to do the same as her. It seems almost impossible to do so though, as if some sort of invisible force is trying to lift my gaze to the stars, and the moon. Using all my willpower, I keep my head down. But suddenly I can't resist any longer. I look upwards, and see the full moon for a split second before my world fades…

* * *

"Where are we…?" I groan as I try to sit up. I have a splitting headache, and I'm starving.

I look at my surroundings. I'm on Lolly's bedroom floor in my sleeping bag with Mel beside me. Lolly's in her bed.

"Guys?" I ask and the other two slowly wake up, probably feeling the same way I do, judging by their movements.

"What happened last night…?" Lolly asks.

"I think that's what you need to explain to us," a firm voice says, and the door opens to reveal Dan and Luke.

"Um… did you… see anything… weird last night?" Mel asks tentatively.

"If by weird you mean that you all have tails, then yes," Luke replies, and Dan nods.

Mel, Lolly and I swap uncertain glances.

Uh oh…

* * *

"... And that is why we couldn't possibly have even dreamt about thinking of considering telling you that we're mermaids," Lolly finishes.

Lolly, Mel and I just explained the whole story to Luke and Dan. Luckily for us, they seem to be taking it surprisingly well.

"So… what exactly happened last night?" Mel asks.

Luke frowns. "Well to put it simply, you three went all possessed when you saw the full moon, then you wandered off, just staring up at the sky. Dan and I followed you to the beach and tried to get you to come back, but then you just jumped into the sea. We saw you swim away and you had tails… and we had no idea what to do. So we came back and partied some more…" both boys grin sheepishly at this part, and Dan takes the story from there.

"No one actually missed that the birthday girl and her two best friends were missing, so when everyone started to leave, Luke left as well and I just went upstairs to sleep. Then this morning, I woke up and checked in here and you were back so I called Luke and… well you know what happened from there."

"So anyway, we need some privacy now, if you'd please," Lolly tells the guys.

Dan and Luke nod and leave the room, closing the door behind them, but two seconds later Dan suddenly opens the door and says, grinning, "Just for the record, Lolly, you owe me."

"Dan… get out," Lolly says with her eyebrows raised, and her brother closes the door. Hopefully for good this time…

Mel sighs. "I just wish we knew what happened when we swum away."

"Me too," I say with a helpless look on my face.

"Oh well. Let's just get changed and everything," Lolly says, and Mel and I nod.

* * *

"Becca!" a voice calls out. I look around but see no one. "Becca! Over here!" the voice shouts, and I spin around to see Lolly sprinting over to me. I stop for a minute to allow her to catch up with me and she falls into step with me as I start walking along the beach again.

"What's up?" she asks.

"Same old," I reply. "What's up with you?"

"Well I just can't get what happened on my birthday off my mind."

"Lolly, I don't think _any _of us can forget about it."

Not only was it really weird, it was also only a few days ago and an awesome party. At least, the part we were there for was awesome...

"I know, I know, but the thing is, I had another dream last night," Lolly tells me, grinning.

"Uh... everyone dreams. It's not really a big deal..." I say, not fully understanding what she means.

"No, I mean one of _those _dreams."

"Oh. What happened."

"Guess."

"I don't know..."

"Why do you think I'm grinning?"

Suddenly, I realise what happened in her dream. "Oh my God Lolly! Yes! I could hug you right now!" I really am tempted, but I know better. Lolly _definitely _doesn't do hugs.

"So I'm gonna call Mel, and ask her to meet us here in a half hour. Then I can tell you guys what this prophet dreamt of last night..."

"Prophet?" I roll my eyes. "Please..."

* * *

"Can you just tell us what the dream was?" Mel asks for the umpteenth time.

"Mel, be more patient," Lolly tells her.

"Oh, because you know _all _about patience..." I say sarcastically.

"Okay, sit," Lolly says, stopping at the most secluded part of the beach I have ever seen in my life. Though it's hardly surprising, considering we've probably walked miles to get here.

"Lolly, we're not dogs," I say, an eyebrow raised.

"Just sit down," Mel whispers to me. "Knowing Lolly, the only way we'll find out what happened."

I sigh and sit down. "C'mon then, what happened?"

"This." Lolly walks over to a nearby pool of water and balls her hand into a fist.

"What are you...?" Mel begins, but trails off as steam starts to rise from the puddle.

"Whoa..." I breathe.


	6. Chapter 6

**A/N: Thank you to all reviewers/favouriters/followers, much appreciated. ;)**

**Drunalove: Yeah, we thought that Lolly could get her power first, considering Rikki got hers last and all. :)**

**alexiswritesfanfiction: I like that stuff. It's all... er... interesting... I guess...**

**Uh, yeah... now go read the chapter.**

**-Kat xxx**

* * *

**Chapter Six**

**Lolly's POV**

"So are you just going to sit there all day gaping, or do you want to know how I did that?" I ask my two astonished best friends, smiling.

"I'll go for the latter," Mel says. "Becca?"

Becca nods absently, still staring in wonder at the steam rising from the water that I just heated.

"Well it was in the dream I had, see," I begin, then explain my dream.

_I stare upwards, looking at the full moon as its light begins to shine down on to the water. Beside me, Becca and Mel do the same._

_"It's time," we all say in unison._

_The three of us stretch out our arms, pointing them towards the waterfall which has appeared on the wall. As I make a fist, Becca flattens out her hand and Mel twists hers around. The waterfall freezes and tentacles of water rise out of the pool we're in, but all of that is hard to see through the steam that's now filling the cave. Suddenly, the ice turns back to water which then vanishes, the tentacles drop back into the pool, and the steam starts to clear. The three of us instinctively look up, just in time to see the full moon disappear, then we dive._

"So, that's what happened?" Mel asks. "We went back to the… cave, and we got more powers?"

"I think so," I reply, nodding.

I show Becca and Mel what they did with their hands for their powers to work. They copy my movements, and their powers work too.

"Y'know, these powers could really come in handy…" I say thoughtfully.

"Lolly, stop being so… manipulative," Becca scolds me. "I know what you're thinking, and we can't use our powers for anything bad."

"I just meant that mine could dry me off…" I say, mocking innocence. Well it is kind of true. It's just not the only thought that happened to cross my mind.

"Oh, by the way guys, I forgot to show you this with everything going on, but read it," I say, taking a piece of scrap paper from my pocket and passing it to them. It's the piece of paper that I copied that thing from online to – remember that? The one I locked in my jewellery box which, funnily enough, doesn't actually contain any jewellery.

"So is that what the cave is called – the moon pool?" Mel asks when her and Becca finish reading the paragraph.

I nod. "Yeah. Or at least, I think so."

Becca, who is re-reading the information I just gave her, asks, "Do you think that's what our mums did?"

"What do you mean? Did what?" I look at Mel in confusion to see if she knows what Becca means, but she seems just as puzzled as I am.

"Uh, here – read the last sentence again." She hands me the scrap paper, pointing to the part she means:

_When all of the planets align with the moon, any mermaid who is in the moon pool when the moon comes over head will lose their powers forever._

"Oh, well I guess, maybe…" I trail off. "What do you think, Mel?"

Mel considers what to say for a moment, then shrugs. "Maybe we should just ask our parents. I mean, we said we would confront them about it when we have evidence, and we've got a picture of the three of them with tails, for crying out loud. How much more proof do we need?"

"I don't know… isn't it a little early in the book for that?" **(Okay, yeah, lame joke, I know. :P Here's what Lolly really says,)** "Why don't we ask Luke? He's all… er… astrological… He might know something about the plant… no, planet… planterary… oh, library-whatsits and all that…"

"Planetary alignments," Mel corrects me, then smiles playfully as she questions, "Library-whatsits?"

"Close enough," Becca says, and the three of us dissolve into giggles.

* * *

"Hello girls," Mrs Fuller says to Mel, Becca and me. Mrs Fuller is our volleyball teacher. Ordinarily, we would have taken swimming lessons rather than volleyball, but under the circumstances, we switched. "Have you seen Emily today?"

I shake my head and the other two do the same. Emily Benjamin is the other girl on our volleyball team.

"Oh, okay. Well I just wanted to let you girls know that your volleyball lesson has been cancelled today, so you'll have to sit around the swimming pool for the lesson. Let Emily know if you see her."

"Okay," Becca replies, then Mrs Fuller walks off.

"I sit next to Emily in history – I'll tell her then," Mel says. Then she sees Luke and, after telling us that she's going to ask him about the full moon thing now, she runs over to him.

"Well Becca, I guess it's just you and me," I say, then, "Okay, there is no way that Mel is asking about the library-whatsits right now, she's just standing there twirling her hair."

Becca laughs. "Come on, let's go eat lunch."

* * *

"Hey Mel, hey Emily," I greet as me and Becca walk over to the side of the swimming pool where Emily and Mel are already sitting.

Emily smiles, and Mel walks over to us.

"So, I guess we get a whole hour of gossipping around the pool," I say, grinning.

Mel rolls her eyes and Becca raises her eyebrows, while I laugh. The three of us sit down in a group, and while Mrs Fuller instructs the girls in the pool, we have our own conversation.

"So did you ask Luke about the library-whatsits?" I ask Mel.

"Yeah, he said he'd look into it."

"I just think that it's kind of stupid that we're not asking our parents about it. I mean, we've got the proof, and it's not as if they're going to disown us for finding out their secret. They aren't even mermaids anymore, and even if they were, we are too so if we told anyone about them we'd be endangering ourselves."

"I guess," Mel says. "But let's just leave it for the time being."

I sigh. Suddenly, a small column of water rises from the pool and I turn to Mel who seems to be the culprit.

"Uh, Mel, you might want to stop that," I say, pointing at what she's doing to the water in the pool.

"Whoops…" she says, pulling her hands back before anyone else notices.

"I think we need to work on controlling these powers…" Becca says carefully.

"Actually, I think what Mel was doing isn't actually a bad idea. I mean, there are some certain bitches swimming in there…" I look pointedly at Penny Allen. There was a time when she was a friend of mine, but I can't stand her now. "I wouldn't mind doing something that might, I don't know, say, freak them out a little."

"Oh, come on Lolly. Like I said before, stop being so manipulative! I knew this was the kind of thing you meant!"

I grin guiltily. "Whatever," I mumble.

After a while of talking with my two best friends, I turn around to see a load of water flying in my direction, and move my chair just in time to dodge it. I hear a laugh from the swimming pool, and when I look I see that it's Penny and her friends, laughing at me.

"Wow Penny, real mature," I say. "Y'know, your name really suits you – you're two faced, and completely worthless." I stare at Penny with a blank expression.

"Amateur," I mutter after a few seconds of her not knowing what to say or do. Her face turns bright red, and she splashes some more water at me. But apparently, anger messes with her aim, because the water hits Emily rather than me. Not being a very sympathetic person, I turn back to Becca and Mel instead of worrying about Emily.

"Did you see Penny's face?" Becca laughs.

"Who could miss it? It was the colour of a tomato, just about," I point out, laughing too.

"Hey, where did Emily go?" Mel asks.

"Huh?" I ask, and look at her seat to find it empty. "Oh, I don't know. She was there a minute ago… I remember she was Penny hit her with that water instead of me."

"Wait, she got splashed? You don't think she… you know… has a tail… do you…?"

"No way. She probably just didn't want to ruin her clothes or something," Becca replies, firmly shaking her head. But I can hear a trace of doubt in her voice, and I can't shake the feeling that Mel's right.

* * *

**A/N: By the way, guys, all credit goes to the h2o wiki for the paragraph on the moon pool :P And omigosh, I recently watched the latest episode of Pretty Little Liars and I'm really upset that Caleb's staying in Ravenswood because he's one of my favourite characters. :'( It's worse than when I found out that Toby was helping A :'( I mean, at least that was only to protect Spencer (3 less than three 3). And Ravenswood is really creepy... (That is how you spell it, right? Ravenswood?) So yeah, anyways, we're going to try and update this at least once more before school starts up again. Now, er... Kat's out, peace. (Y)**

**-Kat xxx**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter Seven**

**Lolly's POV**

I swim through the water with effortless movements, lazily flicking my tail from side to side. Mel and Becca are with me. We're looking for the other two lockets. In fact, you never know, there might even be more. As we near a large rock, I point to the spot where I found the locket and we all swim over to it.

I look around me to see if there's any hint of another locket at all, but I can't see one. After what feels like hours of looking, but is probably only a couple of minutes, I give up and swim back to the other two. When they're both looking at me, I point to the surface then swim upwards, Becca and Mel following me.

"I have to say, this is probably kind of… hopeless," I tell the others. "I mean, sure, there was one locket down there. But if they were all down there, I probably would have found the other two at the same time."

"I guess so," Mel says.

"But that's why we should ask our parents about it." I say. "I mean, the lockets belonged to them, so they probably know where they are."

"Well, maybe…" Mel replies uncertainly. "I still think we should wait to ask them about it. I mean, we can't just go up to our mums and say that we know they used to be mermaids, even if we have tails now too. It would just be… weird."

"Whatever. I need to get home, anyway, so I'll see you guys later." With that, I dive underwater and race the tides back home.

* * *

"Hey Dan," I say to my brother as he opens the front door for me. "Where's mum?"

"Out with Emma and Cleo. Where have you been?"

"Oh, here and there…"

"Anywhere to do with Mako? Like, y'know, Mako perhaps?"

"Is that any of your business?"

"Well, yes, actually. Like I said, you owe me."

"I owe you? What are you, five? Grow up. I owe you nothing. We kept our secret, well, a secret, because… it's a secret… Uh, yeah. So anyway, are you planning on, like, letting me in, anytime soon…?"

"Oh, sorry."

Dan moves out of the doorway and I enter the house, then jump straight onto the sofa and turn the television on.

"Hey, I was going to watch something!" Dan protests.

"Not my problem," I shrug, smiling.

Dan rolls his eyes, and starts to make his way upstairs but I stop him.

"Wait!" I shout, and he stops short. "I need a KitKat!"

"Seriously? I'm not getting you a KitKat!"

"You do know that I could set you on fire, right?"

Dan raises his eyebrows, and I begin to make a fist.

"Fine, I'll get your damn KitKat!" he gives in.

"Thank you," I smile, pulling my hands back.

Approximately seventeen seconds later, Dan passes me a KitKat. That also just so happens to be when my phone vibrates, signalling that I have a text. Rather than taking the KitKat, I annoy Dan by making him wait as I check my mobile. I read the text, then re-read it, then re-re-read it.

"Take it already, or I'll throw it at you!" Dan threatens.

"No freaking way…" I murmur.

"What?"

"Read this text!"

I pass Dan my mobile and he reads the text aloud:

_I found the moon pool! Meet me and Becca at my place in ten minutes tops._

It's from Mel, obviously.

"I've gotta go!" I exclaim, and grab my phone out of Dan's hands. "See ya later."

"Wait!" Dan shouts, and a KitKat suddenly lands at my feet. "Now you can go," he says smugly.

* * *

"Mel, you are a life saving genius. So can we go to the moon pool now?" I ask the second I open Mel's bedroom door. She's sitting on her bed with Becca, and they're obviously waiting for me.

"Hi to you too," Becca says, grinning.

"Please can we just go?" I beg.

Mel rolls her eyes and smiles. "Sure," she says. "I'll lead the way."

I want to run all the way to the beach but Mel insists we walk normally. It's alright for her, she's already been there. I mean, we've all been there, but the first time was ages ago and we don't remember the second time – well except for me because of the dream I had, but that hardly counts. Mel's been there today though.

When we finally get to the beach, we still have to wait a while before we can leave because there are other, more normal people all around us. This means that we have to keep walking until we find a more empty place to swim away without people thinking we've drowned or something. And when we're eventually able to swim away, we can't even swim fast because Mel is very slow to lead us to the moon pool. I think she's doing it on purpose just to annoy me. Damn – I really shouldn't have said what I did in her bedroom just before we left. She'd probably go quicker if I hadn't mentioned how anxious I was to – oh, never mind. We're nearly here. Um… I think.

Mel points to an opening that I'm sure was never there before. I swear we've been past this spot loads of times, and there was only a rock… Oh well.

As we surface, I look around in excitement. "Yes! This place is awesome! Mel, I love you! Uh… in a friendship kinda way…" I add, seeing her alarmed face.

Becca laughs at us, and Mel and I join in. When we stop giggling like freaks (which is exactly what we are…), Becca speaks up.

"Was that entrance there before? I'm sure it was just a rock wall all the other times we passed it."

"I thought the same thing." I nod in agreement.

"So did I, but I had a theory of what might have happened," Mel says.

"Go on," I tell her, curious as to what her hypothesis could be.

"Well obviously the rock wasn't there the first time we came – otherwise we wouldn't have been able to get out of this place. And that was a full moon, so at first I thought that maybe it only opened on full moons. But then I remembered that, well, there isn't a full moon tonight, so yeah… But then I thought that something could have happened on the last full moon to, I don't know, permanently open it? I mean, it was only the last full moon that made us go, uh, crazy, so maybe there was something special about it."

"I think you might be on to something there," I say. "I'm sure it has something to do with the full moon, like you said. Speaking of the full moon and… craziness… do you think the same thing will happen next full moon? Or every full moon, even?"

"I'm not quite sure, but I don't think we should risk it, just in case. I mean, we were lucky that last time it was only Luke and Dan who found out our secret – if things like that keep happening, it could be the whole world finding out soon enough."

"Okay, so what do you think about having a sleepover on full moons? If one of goes all… moonstruck or whatever you want to call it, we can help each other to control it, y'know?"

"Won't our parents get kind of suspicious though?" Mel asks.

"Yup," I say. "And that is exactly the reason why we should tell them our damn secret! It's not like they're going to spill our secret. Our mums know what it's like to have the same secret, after all, and to worry all day long about the threat of exposure. And stuff."

"Fine!" Mel snaps. "We'll tell them!"

"Hey, guys, what's that?" Becca suddenly breaks in.

Mel and I look up to where Becca's pointing, and see a small glint coming from something on the ground. I frown. "Is that… a locket?"

Becca, Mel and I exchange hopeful glances, and I pull myself out of the pool. Once I've used my power to dry myself off, I walk over to the glimmer and peer at the object.

"It's a locket," I confirm. "The only problem is, is it one of the lockets?"

"Let me see it for a minute," Becca orders, and I pick up the locket and pass it to her.

"Ow!" she exclaims throwing it straight back into the sand.

"What?" I ask.

"It burnt me!"

"What the heck…?"

"Pass it to me?" Mel asks.

I nod, and throw it to Mel. She instantly drops it to the ground too. "It's boiling…"

"It isn't to me… Wait… Maybe it's because of our powers!"

"What do you mean?" Becca asks.

"Well my power is heating, and yours is freezing. So if this locket was meant for a mermaid with my power, then maybe it feels boiling to every mermaid except me, or every mermaid with my power anyway. It would make sense, considering yours was so cold to me."

"Okay, but why didn't mine seem cold straight away?"

"I have no idea… Do you guys know what time it is?" I randomly add.

"Oh, sure, I'll just check my watch… Oh wait, I completely forgot, all of my accessories disappear when I transform into a mermaid. Not to mention the fact that none of us have watches in the first place!"

I roll my eyes. "Whatever. I was just asking because I wanted to know if we should be getting home now."

"I think we should go now," Mel agrees. "Do you guys remember the way here?"

"Yeah – we've been past here before anyway," I reply, and Becca nods.

"Okay, so do you want to meet here at ten tomorrow morning? I think we should discuss a few things before we say anything to our parents."

"Okay," Becca says as I plunge back into the water.

I come back up for a brief moment to hold my breath, then duck underwater again and head home.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter Eight**

**Mel's POV**

"Mel, I'm going out shopping with Rikki and Emma!" Mum shouts up the stairs to me. "We're going back to Rikki's house after! Bye!"

"Bye, Mum!" I shout back, then continue to finish off my art homework. Suddenly, the front door shuts really loudly, distracting me. I drop my pencil, and when I go to pick it up it's snapped in half.

"Damnit," I mutter under my breath. Sighing, I stand up and walk across the landing to Mum and Dad's room, in the hope of finding a new pencil in there.

I dig about in the little plastic pot where Mum keeps her pens and pencils and things, but all her pencils are blunt and she doesn't have a sharpener in there. I pull my hands back in frustration, and – whoops – knock the pot off of the table. I bend down to pick up the pot and it's contents, and as I do so I feel a cold, thin chain. My heart soars at the thought of what it could be – the last locket! I eagerly snatch it up off of the floor, and I cheer out loud as I see that my suspicions were right, although I quickly cover up my mouth with my hand when I realise just how loud that was. Thank goodness that Mum isn't home… Oh, God, I need to tell Becca and Lolly that I found the locket! Where did Mum say she was going with Emma and Rikki after they'd been shopping? Rikki's house…? Right, I'll go to Lolly's place and we can finally confront our parents when they get there!

* * *

I hammer my fist against the door.

"Lolly, are you there?!" I shout through the letterbox. Suddenly, the door swings open to reveal Lolly.

"What?!" she asks, slightly annoyed. Well, I suppose I was knocking quite loudly…

"Sorry, I just really need to show you something." A satisfied smile appears on my face and I open my hand to show Lolly the locket.

"Yes!" Lolly exclaims. "So… does this mean we can tell our parents that we're mermaids now…?"

"That's why I came over here."

Lolly gives me a questioning look, and I explain that Mum, Rikki and Emma are coming back here when they've finished shopping. She nods, then picks up the landline as it starts to ring.

"Hello?" she asks. There's a pause, then she says, "Oh, hey Mum." After that, I tune out. I notice Lolly's locket on the kitchen table and reach my hand out to pick it up. Then I remember it's scorching heat and quickly pull my hands back. I was going to compare the lockets, but I guess I can't. Instead I put my own locket down next to it. Suddenly, both lockets start to move around on the table. What the hell…? Then Lolly's mobile starts ringing, and she chucks it to me.

"Answer it," she mouths at me. "It's Becca."

I answer the call and put the phone to my ear. "Hey Becca. It's Mel."

"Oh, uh, hi Mel. Is Lolly there?"

"Yeah, she's on the phone to Rikki though, so she asked me to answer your call."

"Okay. Well anyway, the weirdest thing just happened with my locket. I was-"

"Wait," I break in. "Did it just randomly start to move around?"

"Yeah, how did you know?"

"Because the same thing just happened with mine and Lolly's lockets."

"Wait, you found your locket?"

"Oh, yeah, and we're going to tell our parents our secret when they get back to Lolly's house too. I would have called, but I was in a rush. I was going to when I got here, but you obviously beat me to it."

"Okay, I'll be right over."

"Alright, see you then. Remember to bring your locket."

"I will." With that, Becca cuts off the call, just as Lolly's saying goodbye to her mum.

"Becca said she'll be right over," I say, handing Lolly her phone back. Just as I do that, the doorbell rings.

"Uh… well that was… _impossibly_ fast…" I say.

Lolly laughs. "Nah, it's probably just Dan." Grinning, she goes to answer the door and a few seconds later her brother steps inside the house.

"Hey Dan," I greet him, and he gives a small wave. He goes into the kitchen, and I continue to talk to Lolly.

"Do you think Becca's nearly here yet?" Lolly asks impatiently.

"She probably only just left so not really. Well then again, being at her own house is pretty much the same thing as nearly being here and at my house, considering we all live so close, but you know what I mean…"

Suddenly, Dan walks back into the room with a glass of water and pours it all over Lolly's head.

"That's what you get for not telling me your secret," he grins. Taken by surprise, not having time to sit down, Lolly falls to the floor with a tail. I laugh. Lolly simply glares at me then smiles. She splashes water at me, and I fall down with a tail too. A minute later, Becca walks in to see Lolly and I on the floor as mermaids in fits of giggles.

"Uh… what did I miss?" she asks, and we laugh even more.

* * *

"So… what should we tell them?" Becca asks in a whisper.

"I have no idea," I say.

"We could show them the lockets, and the pictures inside them?" Lolly suggests.

"Okay, sure," I agree.

"Good idea," Becca says.

Mum, Rikki and Emma have just come in through the front door, and Lolly, Becca and I are discussing quietly what to tell them while we make them some tea.

"Right, let's go in," I say.

"Yeah – time to put Plan L into action."

Turning to Lolly, Becca asks, "Plan L?"

"Well, yeah, it sounded better than Plan A or whatever…"

Ignoring Lolly's weird idea, I walk into the living room where our mums are chatting. The other two follow suit, and we give them their tea.

I look at Lolly and Becca for encouragement. Lolly nods, but it's so quick that you'd never be able to see her do it unless you were waiting for it – which I just was.

"Uh… we need to talk to you about… something…" I say uncertainly.

"About what?" Emma asks.

"Um… Well, we…"

"Oh my God, Mel, you're rubbish at this!" Becca exclaims. "This."

Becca takes her locket off from the around her neck, and opens it to show the picture inside to her mum.

"Oh," Emma says quietly.

"What?" Mum and Rikki ask curiously, walking over to Emma to see what the picture inside her locket is, although they can probably already tell by seeing how pale Emma's skin has suddenly turned.

"But also this," Lolly puts in, and our mums look up at her. She picks up a glass of water… and tips it all over me.

"Hey!" I exclaim.

"Well that's what you get for being so rubbish at this," Lolly smirks.

"That's not fair! Dan tipped water on us earlier! You should have done that to Becca!" But I'm laughing as I transform into a mermaid.

Laughing as well, Lolly replies, "No, he tipped water over _me_. I'm the one who gets credit for splashing you – such fun!"

Mum, Rikki and Emma's eyes all widen, and Emma pales even more.

"So… you've been mermaids… for how long?" Emma wonders aloud.

"Since just after we moved here," Becca answers. "We got stranded in that moon pool at Mako."

"So did we," Cleo says. "I'm finding this slightly hard to process…"

"Really, Cleo? We were mermaids for years! It probably wasn't just a coincidence that our daughters became mermaids too! Especially after we were reunited with each other."

"Oh! But we didn't want them to have such a burden as this!" Emma wails. "That's why we gave up our powers!"

"You gave up your powers?" Becca asks.

"Yes. A few years after I returned from travelling the world, Rikki and I, along with another mermaid called Bella, moved away, while Cleo stayed here. The four of us lost touch, but we all became pregnant at the same time and came back into contact again. We still had our powers, but we gave them up when we realised we were all pregnant, because we didn't want our children to have their lives ruined by being mermaids. But I guess it happened anyway…" Emma sighs.

Suddenly, a thought occurs to me. "Wait… I don't suppose Bella's last name happens to be-"

"Benjamin?" Lolly finishes for me.

"Yes… how did you know?" Rikki asks curiously.

I turn to the others. "Emily."


	9. Chapter 9

**A/N: Amazed at how quickly I can update? Eh, I write quickly because I get bored... plus I can't be bothered to do my homework... Amen... I don't know...**

* * *

**Chapter Nine**

**Mel's POV**

I wake up in the morning rather happily. Both my parents, along with Rikki, Emma and Ash, now know about our mermaid secret. We don't have to pretend anymore! Then my happy mood comes crashing down as I remember that it's that time of the month – not a period reference – the full moon. Then I become happy again, because I remember that I can ask my parents about the full moon!

I get dressed and go to the bathroom in a hurry, then rush downstairs.

"Hey Mum, hey Dad!" I say to my parents who are sitting on the sofa in the living room, watching the television.

"Good morning," Mum says. "Sleep well?"

"Never better!" I exclaim. Apart from when I was really young and had to go to sleep seriously early each afternoon, I really mean it.

"Glad you're so happy," Mum says, smiling.

"So… It's the full moon tonight…" I say.

"And you want our help to get prepared for it, am I right?" Dad asks.

"Yep," I say. "Pretty much."

Mum rolls her eyes, laughing. "Why don't you invite Lolly and Becca, and their parents around. We can sort out the rest of these… issues."

After last week when we confronted our parents about their secret, I haven't really seen much of the others, except from at school, and to discuss the mermaid thing with Lewis and Ash too. I decide that inviting them around would be a great idea, and call them both in a three way call.

"Mel, I was sleeping!" Lolly whines. "What do you want?"

Becca laughs at Lolly. "Hey Mel, Lolly," she says.

"Hey Becca. And seriously Lolly – wake up. This is important. I need you guys to come over here in like half an hour, and bring your parents and Dan.

"Oh, not Dan!" Lolly exclaims, sounding less tired now.

Becca and I laugh again. "Whatever," I say. "Just, be here as soon as possible. With Dan. And Rikki, of course."

"Fine. See you soon!"

With that, Lolly leaves the call.

"Okay Mel, I'll be round as quick as I can. See you then."

Then Becca cuts off the call, and I go back to my parents.

* * *

"Do you guys know the answer to question seven on the chemistry homework?" Lolly asks. "I hate chemistry…"

I shrug. "I'm still doing maths."

"I haven't even started either of those!" Becca exclaims.

"Pfft. For the smart one…" Lolly says.

Becca glares at her. "I'm just distracted."

"I know, I feel the same way," I say.

Our parents decided that Becca, Lolly and I can have a sleepover every full moon (awesome, huh?), and we're now sitting in my room, doing homework for school tomorrow. But we're all finding it hard to concentrate with our concerns about what might happen tonight.

"I give up on this," Becca says, placing her pen and school books back on the floor beside the beanbag she's sitting on.

"Me too," I say, dumping my own books on my bed, and Lolly puts her things down too.

"I'm hungry," Lolly says. "I'm just going downstairs to get some food. I won't be a minute. I might be two minutes. Possibly three. But definitely not one."

I roll my eyes, and Lolly smiles as she walks out of my bedroom then closes the door behind her.

Becca and I sit in silence for a few minutes, until I look down to the table that my locket is placed on, along with Becca's and Lolly's.

"What the heck?!" I shout.

"What?" Becca asks, and looks down at the table too. "Oh my God!"

The lockets aren't on the table anymore – they're floating a few inches above it.

"Well," I say. "That's certainly… something…"

"Hey, doesn't that kind of remind you of how they were moving around last week…?" Becca asks.

"Yeah, it does. What do you think is going on?"

"Maybe… maybe it's because they're all together now or something… so they… can fly? I guess maybe they couldn't before because they weren't all together – only two of them were."

"Good theory. Should we ask our parents about it or something?"

Just before Becca can answer, Lolly comes back in and sees our lockets which have suddenly flown over to the middle of the room.

"Uh… why are our necklaces flying…?" she asks with a hint of disbelief.

"Ask Becca," I say.

Becca explains her theory to Lolly who nods, still watching the floating necklaces cautiously.

"So what should we do about this, then?" she asks.

"Tell our parents?" I suggest.

"Okay," Lolly agrees.

But before we can leave, the lockets suddenly fly over to the curtains and pull them over. I look away from them just in time.

"Okay, how did that happen?" I ask.

"I have no idea," Becca says.

Lolly is strangely quiet for once. "Lolly?" I ask. No answer. I turn to her. Uh oh…

"Becca… Looks like we have a moonstruck mermaid."

Becca turns to Lolly too. "No, don't look at the-"

Too late. She's already moonstruck. Damn. Not having a clue about what to do, I go for my best bet. I look at the full moon as well.

* * *

I jolt awake, thanks to Lolly shoving me.

"Lolly!" I exclaim. "Ow!"

"Sorry," she says, clearly not meaning it.

I look around my bedroom. Oh my God. This room is totally trashed. Okay, maybe getting moonstruck along with the others wasn't my best idea… But I panicked, okay? Then I turn to the alarm clock beside me, which reads: 7:22am.

"Uh, guys, I know we got moonstruck last night… but we should really get ready for school," I say, pointing at the clock.

"Oh, right," Lolly says. "Becca!" she shouts at the girl who's falling back to sleep on my floor.

"Whatever," she says. "Can't we ditch school today. My ears… ow… Thanks Lolly. Not."

"Yeah, she shoved me awake," I say to Becca. "But we can't ditch school. Come on. We'll talk to our parents about this later.

* * *

"Have you guys seen Emily today?" I ask as Becca, Lolly and I get to our volleyball lesson where there's no sign of Emily.

"Nope," Lolly and Becca reply in unison.

"I'm kind of worried about her. I mean, if she's a mermaid… she could have been moonstruck and… something could have happened to her…"

"Mel, you need to stop worrying about everyone," Lolly says firmly. "I mean, if she's a mermaid then the moon would guide her back home. She's probably just ditching school if she got moonstruck, and if not, she's probably just sick."

"Alright," I give in reluctantly.

By the end of the lesson, I've calmed down quite a bit, and we can finally go home!

As soon as we get there, I demand my parents to tell us what happened last night. We don't really find out much though – just that we got moonstruck and my parents tried to stop us running away, but failed.

"On the bright side, I might have another dream," Lolly says.

"Well if you could go to sleep now, that would be awesome, because I'm dying to know what happened," Becca says.

"Only if I get knocked out. Sorry to disappoint, but I'm not tired."

"Well, getting you knocked out isn't exactly a bad idea…"

"Tell me you're joking," Lolly laughs.

* * *

**Emily's POV**

Where am I? I just woke up and I'm in some sort of cave. Wait, this reminds me of… the cave where I became a mermaid… Maybe it's that cave? What am I doing here? I look up, out of the hole in the cave above me. It's light outside. What the hell happened last night? I need to get out of here… I stand up to dive through the water and swim away, but I end up falling again…

* * *

**Mel's POV**

"I'm actually getting really worried about Emily," I say to Becca as Lolly goes inside Rikki's Café to buy us all drinks. "I mean, I know Lolly said she's probably just sick and all, but she wasn't in school again today… and I just have a bad feeling…"

"I know what you mean," Becca agrees, nodding. "I think something's happened to her too."

"Maybe we should go look for her…" I suggest.

"Oh come on, we don't even know where she hangs out, or lives or, well, anything about her really. We're hardly likely to find her."

"I know."

I sigh, and Becca and I sit in silence for a few minutes. Suddenly, Lolly comes back outside without our smoothies, with a really panicked expression.

"Guys, we need to go to Mako," she says.

"Uh… why?" I ask.

"I had another dream last night."

"Why didn't you tell us before?"

"It's complicated. I'll explain later. We need to go."

Becca and I nod, standing up, and we all run to the beach so we can swim away in private.

* * *

When we surface in the moon pool, Becca asks Lolly, "What is this all about then?"

Lolly doesn't speak, she just points up to the sand. I look up and gasp.

"Emily!" I cry. She's lying face down on the ground, wearing the same crumpled clothes she was the last time we saw her… which was the day of the full moon.

"Has she been here since the full moon?" I ask worriedly. "Is she dead? Or just unconscious? In a coma? Do you think she's a mermaid? And what was your dream?!"

"Mel, calm down!" Lolly snaps. "Let's just check if she's okay."

Without me realising, Lolly has pulled herself out of the water and dried herself off with her power. She motions for me and Becca to get out too, and when we do she dries us off.

"Emily…?" I ask hesitantly.

Instantaneously, she jumps up. With a rather alarmed expression, she looks around at Becca, Lolly and I. She suddenly seems to calm down and she sits down again, shakily.

"What happened…?" she whispers.

I look promptly at Lolly. "Lolly, what happened in your dream?"

"Her dream?" Emily asks bewilderedly.

"It's… a long story," Lolly says, sitting down.

* * *

**Lolly's POV**

_I raise my head above the water, at the exact same time as Becca and Mel. We all look ahead of us at the waterfall that's beginning to form. I heat up the cave, while Becca freezes the waterfall and Mel creates three water tentacles. Suddenly, the tentacles lunge forwards, towards the waterfall. They crack the layer of ice in a microsecond, and water daggers start to shoot out from the water. The three of us duck underwater before any harm can come to us, and swim away._

"How did that tell you about Emily…?" Becca asks.

"It didn't," I say, shaking my head from side to side. "That was the vision. I was in the café, about to order the drinks, when I suddenly had this weird vision…"

_As the three of us swim away, we pass by another mermaid. One with honey blonde hair, and deep blue eyes. As we leave the cave, she enters it, and the daggers hit her. She falls back against the floor of the cave, eyes closed._


	10. Chapter 10

**A/N: Sorry about this chapter being kind of uneventful, but I needed to write something about this so I could get on with the rest of the story - I've got something good coming up! This is about halfway into the story now too, but I'm going to try to make the rest of my chapters longer. Anyway, thanks for reviews/favourites/follows, keep 'em coming. Now, onto the story.**

**-Kat xxx**

* * *

**Chapter Ten**

**Emily's POV**

"Where have you been?!" my mum, Bella Benjamin, exclaims, running up to me and pulling me into a hug. "We were so worried!"

I breathe in the scent of her strawberry perfume for a moment, then step back. "I was in the moon pool at Mako Island."

She looks at me in utter shock. "What…?"

Mum and Dad don't know that I'm a mermaid. But after I told Mel, Lolly and Becca that I'm one, and that my parents don't know, they persuaded me to tell them. They told their own parents about a week ago, and said that it went perfectly well, so I've decided to tell mine now. Then we can reunite my parents with the others', and the old gang of mermaids will be back together.

"Mum, I know you used to be a mermaid. I'm one too"

"How…?"

"Well, I found out from three girls… You used to know their parents."

I point behind me to where Becca, Mel and Lolly are standing together, unnoticed by my mother.

Mum's eyes widen even more than they already had. She rushes over to my new best friends.

"Are you the daughters of Emma, Rikki and Cleo?" she asks hopefully. They all nod, smiling.

When Mum turns back to me, she's positively grinning, and her eyes are brimming with tears.

"Thank you so much, Emily," she says.

Suddenly, my dad Will and my younger sister Lizzy come outside.

"Emmy!" Lizzy cries, running towards me, her chubby arms outstretched to hug me. I have to smile. Lizzy is a seriously cute four year old.

"Have you missed me?" I ask her, lifting her up in my arms.

"YAY!" she shouts, grinning.

While my parents start a conversation, I carry Lizzy to the other girls.

"Thanks, guys," I say.

"Any time," Lolly says, grinning, then looks down at LIzzy. "She is so adorable!"

"Ugh, you can have her. She might be adorable, but she's a nuisance too," I joke. "Okay, so come over in a couple of hours, with your parents, of course, and Dan."

"Why Dan, again?!" Lolly jokes.

I smile, and the other two laugh.

"Well, we'll see you in a few hours then," Becca says.

"Bye."

* * *

"Hey guys," I say as I open the door to see three familiar faces – Becca, Lolly and Mel. Their parents are with them, and so is Dan.

I step out of the doorway and pull the door open wider to let everyone in.

"Bella!" Rikki exclaims, rushing over to her old friend. Cleo and Emma follow suit, and Lewis and Ash go to talk to Will. I close the door while Mel, Becca, Lolly and Dan stand beside me.

"So, another fish, huh?" Dan asks.

"Um… Yeah… I guess…" I say.

"Dan, shut up. Don't worry – he's always a jerk," Lolly adds, turning to me and laughing.

I smile suddenly. "This is totally awesome," I randomly say.

"Yeah," Mel agrees. "I mean, our parents are reunited, and we're all best friends with a wonderful secret. What more could we want?"

"Except ice cream," Lolly chips in and we all laugh. "No, I'm serious. Got any ice cream?"

"Uh, yeah, in the freezer… Is she always like this?" I add as she walks away.

"Pretty much," Mel laughs.

"So… when did you turn into a mermaid?" Becca asks.

"I can't say exactly, but I was thirteen years old, and I had moved here a couple of months before."

"It might have been the full moon after us," Mel says. "It would explain why you didn't get moonstruck on the last full moon, even if you looked at it."

"I suppose."

"How have you kept it a secret from all your other friends?"

I shrug. "I just… stayed dry, I guess."

"Okay."

After a while of standing around, the conversation eases, and it's suddenly as if I've known the other girls since birth. It's nice. I've never had any kind of friendship this strong.

Shortly before everyone leaves, Dad walks over to me and hands me a necklace – a locket with an intricate design.

"The fourth locket for the fourth mermaid," he says.

"Thanks," I say grinning. I had been admiring the other girls' lockets earlier and Dad had probably realised that a fourth one should be made.

I walk back to Lolly, Becca and Mel. "Look what I've got," I say, holding out my hand to show them the locket.

"Awesome," Becca says. "A fourth one. It's nice. Hey, do you think yours represents any kind of power like ours?" I look at her confused, and she explains, "Well, when any other mermaids touch my locket, it feels cold, for example, because my power is ice. You know?"

"Oh. Well I don't think I have a power…" I say doubtfully, and a little disappointedly.

"Why don't you ask Bella what her power was? We all seemed to inherit our powers from our Mums, so maybe you did too."

"Okay, I'll try it. Hey, Mum!" I call out, seeing her walking in the opposite direction, towards the kitchen. She turns around and smiles, walking over to me.

"I was wondering, what was your power when you were a mermaid? Like, with the hand… thingies…?"

"Oh, I just did this," Mum says, and demonstrates how she worked her power. I try to mimic her actions, and she laughs. "No, not like that. Like this."

I don't get the hand movement right at first, but I keep at it until long after all the guests are gone.

"Maybe I just don't have a power," I say, crestfallen, after what's probably my hundredth attempt.

"I'm sure you do," Mum says. "Maybe it's different to mine? Or you could just be doing the hand movement wrong."

Mum demonstrates one more time, and I try again, and something suddenly happens! The water in the glass on the table in front of me suddenly turns to jelly!

"Did I do that?" I ask astonishedly.

"Looks like," Mum says, smiling. "That was my power, after all."

"Yes!" I cheer.

Mum checks her watch as she sees Lizzy fast asleep on the sofa. "Can you take your sister up to bed for me?"

"Sure," I say, and smile as I gently pick up Lizzy to carry her upstairs. She's sucking her thumb, and her tawny hair is covering her face.

"Then get to bed yourself," Mum says. "It's nearly midnight!"


	11. Chapter 11

**A/N: Yo-yo, guess who? Emmy! Kat keeps sneezing -_- Sorry for the long wait. Busy, you know?**

* * *

**Chapter Eleven**

**Lolly's POV**

I slowly glide through the crystal ocean, surrounded by schools of fish, and running my hand over a cluster of coral. Suddenly, I come to an abrupt halt. Looking at my surroundings, I reflect on how amazing the gift I have is. I especially love the way that the vast blue ocean can always brighten up my day, even on the dullest Monday ever. I've really come to appreciate the beauty of the underwater world since becoming a transformer or whatever you want to call me. I suppose it's all the same. Whilst transformers transform into their dumb robotic state, I can transform into a fish. Anyway, I'm getting off of the topic. As I was saying – uh, thinking – I know that being a mermaid can sometimes be a major pain, but most girls would give anything to have the secret that I share with Mel, Becca and Emily.

I smile at the three girls who are drifting in the water beside me. My best friends. They're part of what makes this secret even more amazing.

_I know._

Wait. Who said that? It certainly wasn't me. I look in confusion and the others to see that they all have the same look on their face. So they heard it too.

_Yep._

Uh… This is kind of freaking me out. No one can speak underwater. And how are they answering my thoughts, anyway? Unless…

_Are we reading each other's minds…?_ I ask in my head uncertainly.

_Apparently,_ Emily's voice comes back. Now that I've realised what's going on, I can actually feel her words echoing in my mind until they fade away. Weird.

_Why?_ Mel asks.

_I have no idea,_ Becca replies.

_Maybe we should ask our parents,_ I suggest.

_Good idea,_ Emily agrees.

* * *

"Hey Mum," I greet as my mum walks into the kitchen. She smiles.

"Hi Lolly. Have you been with the other girls?"

"Yeah. Actually, I was meaning to ask you about something that happened when I was with them today."

Mum turns to look at me properly while I speak.

"Well it was really weird. Basically, we were all swimming and I was just thinking, then I suddenly heard another voice in my head. And I looked at the others, and they were all looking confused. And after a while, we realised that we were listening to each other's thoughts. So we were wondering if anything like that ever happened to you?"

Mum frowns. "I think something like that happened once or twice. I remember sometimes I would be thinking to myself, then suddenly I'd hear another voice in my head. It happened rarely, and I could never figure out what it was, so I just let it go. But now that you mention it, the voices did sound like Emma, Cleo and Bella…"

"Okay, thanks. Well I'll go and tell the girls," I say, taking my phone out of my bag and starting a three way call with Mel, Becca and Emily as I walk up the stairs.

* * *

"God, yesterday was so weird," Emily says.

"I know," I reply, nodding. Emily and I grabbed a table in the canteen before it got too crowded, and we're sitting here waiting for Becca and Mel. We're talking about the mind reading thing yesterday while we wait and eat.

"Do you think Lewis has found out anything else about it yet?" Emily asks. Mel's dad said that he would look into this thing when he had time.

"Probably not. I mean, I don't think it's even been twenty four hours since it happened."

"Oh, right."

"Hey, I have an idea!" I suddenly exclaim after a few moments of silence.

"What?" Emily asks. I look around to make sure that no one's listening, and lower my voice to a whisper.

"Let's try and read each other's minds right now, and see if it works. Y'know, if we do an experiment of our own while we're waiting for Lewis to find out anything."

"Sure. So what, if we just… think to each other…?"

"I guess."

_Okay, uh, hey,_ I say. **(A/N: Thoughts are still written as if they're being spoken but you can tell they're being thought because they are in italics, not speech marks.)** I wait for a minute. No answer. I look up at Emily and she shrugs. Then Becca and Mel come along and sit down opposite me and Em.

"Did you guys just… um… think to us?" Mel asks.

I narrow my eyes. "Well Emily and I were testing to see if the mind reading would work again so we just thought to each other. But we didn't hear anything except our own thoughts. I guess you guys did though…"

Becca sighs. "This is _so_ weird…"

_Understatement,_ I think, concentrating on sending my thoughts to Becca. Apparently, she hears them, because she looks at me with a raised eyebrow and sighs again.

* * *

After my three best friends and I have finished eating our lunch, we go our separate ways. While Emily, Becca and Mel head to do their own things, I go to my locker to grab my biology textbook. Not that I'm going to study. I just need it for my next lesson, although I still have about twenty five minutes to go. I like to be prepared, see (JOKE).

"Lolly!" a voice suddenly calls out. Oh God. No. Not her. Please. Anybody but her. Unfortunately, it is her, because after a few seconds, I turn around to face Penny Allen, also known as Demented Fake Blonde.

"What?" I ask, not bothering to mask the displeasure from my voice.

"Chill, Lols, it's just me, Penny."

"That's the point. And you can call me Lola."

"I know, Lolly."

Grr.

"Shut up. What do you want?"

Penny mocks hurt. "Is that really any way to treat an old friend?"

"My point exactly. An old friend. You're not my friend anymore, Penny. So seriously, what do you want?"

"Alright, alright, fine. Look, I just wanted to invite you to my birthday party."

I narrow my eyes and take a step back. "But… why…?" I ask suspiciously.

"Because I just do." Penny hands me a dark pink card, complete with pale pink feathers around the edge (is this girl for real?). I back away even more after I take it from her.

"Okay Penny, yeah, it was lovely chatting to you, I had a wonderful time, it was great to catch up with you and all, but I really have to go now to… uh… study," I babble, saying the first activity that pops into my head. Pfft. Studying. As if. But luckily for me, Penny seems to believe the unbelievable.

"Studying's for wimps," she says, smirking, and turns on her heel. Once she's turned a corner and is completely out of sight, I sigh with relief, and walk over to my locker to get my chemistry textbook. No, wait, I have biology next. Ugh, that girl gets me so mixed up. I sigh, and check my phone for any text messages or missed calls before taking out my textbook and slamming my locker door shut. Then I turn to the right.

Two words:  
Big. Mistake.

The boy standing in front of me has tousled black hair and brown eyes so deep that you could easily get lost staring into them forever. He has a tanned complexion, and his lips are tilted up into a lopsided grin as he speaks.

"Hey Lolly. Long time, no see, huh?"

After an eternity of shifting from foot to foot, gaping, I find the courage from somewhere to finally say something. Anything. Including, "Oh shit," which is exactly what I whisper.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter Twelve**

**Becca's POV**

_Oh shit_, I hear a voice in my head and jump in startlement.

_Is that you Lolly? You're really loving this new power, huh?_

_Bex! Stay out of my thoughts!_

_You sent them to me! Kinda… What's going on, anyway? What are you swearing about? Seriously, don't swear at me in my head. That's low._

_I wasn't swearing at you! I… I'll explain later._

_What's going on?_ I glance at the clock. It's five minutes into the lesson. _Aren't you in your lesson?_

_No. I have something to deal with._

_You're not skiving again, are you?_

_Go away, already!_

After that, I hear no more from Lolly, as much as I try. I guess she's working on keeping her thoughts out of my head. I'm dying to find out what's up with her though. It sounded urgent… I snap out of my thoughts as I suddenly feel something on my hand. Damn! It's water! Luckily, I spot a towel next to me and dry the water off just in time. Whew. That was close. Ugh, Lolly is going to get me into so much trouble one of these days. Seriously though, if she tarnishes my perfect school record, I will kill her. Figuratively, of course.

* * *

"Omigod Lolly! What happened with you today?!" I practically scream down the phone. I'm so mad at her right now. She got me so distracted in class!

"Okay this is gonna sound really weird but you know how I used to live like on the other side of the world I mean country whatever well this friend from there is now going to our school and I am totally freaking out!" she says on a rush of air.

"Okay…" I reply slowly. "So… what the hell are you talking about?" I honestly hardly understood a word of that.

"Look, just come to my place. And get Mel and Emily to come over too. Pronto."

Lolly hangs up and I sigh, text Mel and Emily asking them to meet us at Lolly's house, grab a jacket, and leave.

* * *

When Lolly's explained what's happened today with her and this new guy Connor who, as it would happen, already knows her from when they both lived back on the other side of Australia, I smile. "Interesting… So… When do we get to meet this boyfriend of yours?"

Lolly groans and chucks a pillow at me. "I already told you, he isn't my boyfriend!"

"Why are you so nervous then?" Emily asks, a devious smile appearing on her face too.

"I'm not! I'm just… surprised!" Lolly protests, but her traitorous cheeks blush scarlet.

"Well when you two start dating, are you planning on telling him our secret?" Mel asks.

Lolly groans once again. "I'm not planning on telling him, and, just to clarify, he is not my freaking boyfriend!"

"Sure he isn't…" I say.

"Kill me now," Lolly mutters.

* * *

"Whoa. He is cute!" I exclaim in a whisper to Lolly as she points out Connor. He's at the other end of the corridor from Mel, Lolly, Emily and me, talking with Dan. When Connor leaves, Dan runs over to us.

"Hey," he says.

"Okay, bye!" Lolly squeals sarcastically. I roll my eyes.

"Nice to see you too," he says. "Did you see Connor?"

"Yep. Coming Em? We've got music."

"Okay." Emily waves at the rest of us as Lolly drags her away.

"I've gotta get going too. Bye," Mel says, then walks away.

"Wanna walk to science with me?" I ask Dan - we're in the same class.

"Well, considering we're both gonna get there eventually, and we're both going to walk in the same direction anyway, okay."

I smile. "Right then. So what exactly is the deal with Connor?"

Dan shrugs. "He used to be really good friends with me and Lolly, but then we moved away. I guess it's kind of strange that he just showed up here, not even knowing that this is where we live now."

"It must be. I'm pretty sure he wasn't expecting to see any familiar faces around here."

"Life is complicated."

"You can say that again…"

* * *

**Lolly's POV**

"Hey Lolly," a male voice says beside me, and I turn to see Connor. "Mind if I sit?"

"Yes, I do mind." Nothing against Connor, but I try to sit alone in as many lessons as I can. I hate having to sit next to random kids who do nothing but talk, and could easily find out my secret. Luckily, music doesn't really involve water.

Connor rolls his eyes and sits down anyway. I narrow my eyes at him. "I said I do mind."

"Oh, you know, I just thought, 'Typical Lolly. She won't mind if I sit next to her, really.'"

"Well I obviously do," I point out.

"True."

"But you're not planning on moving any time soon?"

"Guess not."

"God, you're annoying."

"Give me a break. It's only my second day here and I've already got tons of homework. And I don't have many friends yet, but I'd rather sit next to someone I know. Meaning you."

"Really? By the looks of it, you're already wildly popular. Among the girls at least."

Connor smirks. "That's just your code way of saying I'm attractive, right?"

"Ugh, why does everyone think I like you like that? We're just friends!"

"Everyone?"

I blush. "Just my teasing friends."

"So you told your friends about me? You must really like me."

"Oh my God…" I didn't even tell my friends about him, but then I can't exactly tell him that I'm a mermaid with the power to read my other mermaid friends minds, can I? "I didn't tell them… They saw me with you and asked about it," I lie.

"Well either way, I'm pretty sure you think I'm good looking anyway. All the girls do."

"Modest much? Oh, and don't forget the gay guys."

Connor rolls his eyes, and I smile.

"Yes! I got you to smile!"

Damn. When we were, like, ten years old, Connor and I had this game to see if he could get me to smile, because I apparently never did. If he won, I would always give him a blue lolly, because the name matched mine, and the colour matched my eyes, so the lolly represented me losing the 'grumpy' part of myself, or something like that. Funnily enough, I have one of those lollies with me today. Or I did, until I ate it. They taste good…

* * *

**A/N: Of course, the ending just ****_had _****to be about Lolly's love of food. (Y) Liking Connor? Hating him? Liking the mind reading thing? Hating it? Liking the... mention of gay people...? Hating it?**

**Random quote of the day: SOME PEOPLE ARE GAY, GET OVER IT.**

**I saw that on an advert on the side of a bus... Review if you support gay people...? Yeah, I'm just using that as an excuse. But, as Nike would say:**

**Just do it.**

**PS. I wrote this whole chapter in like half an hour with no editing or help or whatever, so it's probably kinda rubbish (except from the whole me-being-an-awesome-writer thing. Because I'm just that modest).**

**-Kat xxx**


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter Thirteen**

**Lolly's POV**

"Hey Lolly, got a minute?" I cringe at the sound of Penny's sing-song voice. How does the girl manage to sound so angelic, yet once you get to know her, she turns out to be pure hell?

"Sure!" I say, exaggerating my fake enthusiasm and grinning like… some psychoneurotically disturbed guy who thinks he's a rabbit… or something…

"Okay, first off, stop doing that because you're totally freaking me out. Anyway, how the hell do you know Connor Sullivan?"

"Are you a stalker? He's been at our school for two days and you've already figured out that I knew him before he came here? And either way, is that any of your business?"

"Please. I have way better things to do than stalk you."

"Well you seem to be stalking me an awful lot lately… I mean, there was the thing about your birthday party yesterday, and now you're asking me about Connor, who you must be stalking too."

"I'm not stalking anyone. But seriously, how do you know him?" she persists.

I groan. "Will you go away if I tell you?"

"Maybe…"

"Good enough. He went to my school when I lived back in Perth. Bye bye!"

Penny smirks. "I said maybe."

I groan again. "What will it take for you to leave me alone?"

"Invite him to my party."

"What? Why? You don't even know him."

"So? He's cute, and he's popular. I want to know him."

"Yeah, okay, I'll see what I can do. But I must warn you, Connor's not really the party type. And neither am I."

In all honesty, the both of us love parties. Especially wild ones, and I know that Penny's party will certainly be wild seeing as she's so rich and popular, and tends to, well, throw wild parties. And I just used the word wild three times in one sentence. Go me! I guess…

* * *

When I get home, I empty the contents of my school bag on to my bed in order to sort it all out a little. At the top of the pile of the things that come out is a crumpled pink feathery card. Penny's birthday party invite. She probably only wants me there so that I can buy her a gift… I reluctantly open the card, half expecting Penny to have put poison in it or something, but luckily, it's just a normal card, which reads:

**Dear Lolly,**

**You are invited to Penelope Allen's birthday party on the 6th of January. Bring as many guests as you like, and remember that a present is vital or you'll be kicked out.**

**Love, Penny.**

Love? Oh God. Okay, so anyway, it's the thirteenth of December now, which means there's just under a month left. Just under a month for me to invite Connor, even though Penny can easily befriend him and invite him herself. Then again, it's nearly the summer holidays, and I suppose that school is the only place she's going to see him except for once or twice, unless she really is a stalker. She probably is. Come to think of it, it's kind of strange how Connor started at our school about a week before the holidays begin. I'll have to ask him about it… Anyway, I'm getting off topic. Although it's not as if I really want to think about Penny or her birthday party, so why not think about Connor? Not that it'll be pleasurable for me in any way at all. Pfft. As if…

* * *

After ages of worrying about Penny possibly stalking me, I decide I'm freaking out over nothing, and go for a swim to clear my mind a little. Unfortunately, I just can't stop getting interrupted today.

"Hey Lolly!" a voice calls out behind me when I'm not even two steps away from my house (okay, maybe I'm over exaggerating, but still…). I spin around to face Luke. I sigh.

"Hey, Lukey," I say in a sarcastic tone. Luke rolls his eyes - he hates when I call him that. "So, like, are you planning on leaving anytime soon? 'Cause I'm planning on going for a swim and, y'know, being alone…"

"Oh, okay. I was just wondering if you're going to Penny's birthday party?"

"I don't know… I mean, I'm pretty sure she only wants me there to buy her a present. Wait, did you get an invitation?"

"Yep. Nice and pink, huh?"

I roll my eyes. "But why would she invite you?"

"What exactly is that supposed to mean?"

"Well, no offence or anything. It's just that she only wants me there for the present, right? 'Cause I have money. But you're just this average guy with an average amount of money and these average looks-"

"Oh yes, because you're just stunningly gorgeous," Luke breaks in.

"I know," I reply, flicking my hair back and smiling, even though I know he's being sarcastic. "Anyway, bye Lukey."

Luke rolls his eyes once again before walking away. By this time, I've nearly reached the sea. I stroll along the sand and keep walking until I come to a bunch of rocks. Sea water is trickling through the gaps between them. I jump lightly from rock to rock until I've reached a secluded area and deeper water. From there, I dive in and swim away. At first touch, the water's freezing because you never get any sun here and it's quite cold today anyway, plus the fact that I'm still in my human form. But once I grow my tail, I warm up. Something to do with those privileges of being a mermaid.

I race through the ocean, a smile on my face as fish dart around me. I'm glad I decided to go swimming. It definitely takes my mind off everything. But when I'm nearly at the moon pool, I see something strange. A new mermaid.

* * *

**Unknown POV**

I pace around the moon pool, scuffing the heel of my shoe on a stone. Where is she? I put a hand into my pocket and snatch my mobile phone from inside. Ugh! She's half an hour late. I tap in her phone number and she picks up on the third ring.

"Hello?"

"Where the hell are you?" I snap.

"Huh?"

"You were supposed to meet me here a half hour ago!"

"Omigod! I'm so sorry! I totally spaced! Can we reschedule?"

I roll my eyes. "Look, I've gotta go. My parents will be worrying. I'll call you back."

Before she can reply, I cut off the call and stuff my phone back inside my pocket. I dive into the water with a splash and start to swim away, slowly. As I swim through the exit and leave the cave, I think I see something looming to the side, and I can almost feel it's gaze resting on me. I'm not entirely sure what it is. Whatever. It's not important. Probably just a dolphin.

* * *

**A/N: Oooh, there's some random mystery person. Who could it be? Am I going to tell you? Of course not! The answer to that being... I honestly have no idea who she is. Like seriously, I just had this random inspiration of there being some other mermaid... I mean, I have a vague idea of who she is. Unfortunately for you people, you have yet to find out (y'know, kinda like how I do). ;)**

**-Kat xxx**


	14. Chapter 14

**A/N: First off, I feel like crying my eyes out because I just found out that Nixie and Lyla won't be in season 2 of Mako Mermaids. :'( :'( :'( :'( Sorry to break it to you if you watch Mako Mermaids and didn't already know that. :'( :'( :'( On a lighter note, I'm awesome... Random... But true. DEFINITELY true. ;) **

**Secondly, I need to like answer some stuff that people have reviewed so... yeah... Here you go people who reviewed...**

**ByEmiwithlove: Their mums might get their powers back, I haven't decided yet. But if they do, it won't be like a major part because this story is obviously more to do with their kids. But y'know. They might.**

**davidahare: Same thing as before goes to you, but also, well I don't really go for the whole merman thing so I don't think I'll be doing that. Plus, Will, Lewis and Ash don't play major parts in the story and if I was going to use that idea then I would need focus on them more. And as well as that, even if I did like the idea of mermen, I don't think I'd be able to use that for them because... I mean... They're Will, Lewis and Ash... They just... Can't be mermen... Like... They're just... No... Sorry about that. Good idea, but use it for one of your fanfics or something. However, I do love plot twists, so I'm pretty sure there'll be one or two (or three, four or five) in this fanfiction.**

**Now, go read this chapter because it's awesome (LIKE ME).**

* * *

**Chapter Fourteen**

**Mel's POV**

"Hi Luke," I welcome, waving as my cute brown haired boyfriend walks over to me.

He smiles. "Hey."

We link arms as we make our way to Rikki's Café. We're going there to buy milkshakes and talk, smile at each other, stare into each other's eyes, and maybe kiss. Others might call it a date, but whatever. As we walk, I smile. We don't even have to talk - it's enough for us to just be in each other's presence. This is the best relationship I could have ever asked for. It really feels like true love, and Luke's only my first boyfriend! I wonder if we'll ever get married or something… We could have children and maybe they would have powers too. We could live in a cottage with roses around the edge, and we could have a treehouse for the kids. It would be awesome… Suddenly, a loud clattering noise interrupts my thoughts. Ugh. I mean, I s'pose they were kind of weird things to be thinking about now, but it's nice to daydream, right? It's calming. Anyhow, now that I've stopped daydreaming, what the hell was that noise?

I look down and find the source of the sound almost straight away. A girl is lying on the floor in front of me and Luke, her brown hair covering her face. She sits up, clutching her ankle, and pushes her hair away to reveal grassy green eyes.

"Ow…" she whimpers.

"Are you okay?" Luke asks.

"Yeah, I'm fine… I think…"

"I'm Melody," I say, helping her up to her feet. "But you can call me Mel. This is Luke."

"Elexis," the girl introduces herself. She looks down at her watch, before saying, "Oh, I've gotta go. I'll see you round though, I guess."

"Bye," I say with a smile, and Luke waves. He's always been the shy type. Something I rather like in a guy…

* * *

I plunge into the crystal-like sea and race through the water on my way to the moon pool. I smile as the bubbles fly around me. I love being so fast that I can make that happen. So fast that I literally feel like I'm a part of the water. It's the most amazing experience. As I arrive at the moon pool, I see two other mermaids in the water. It must be two out of Lolly, Becca and Emily.

"Hey g-" I begin as I surface, but stop short when I see that the two people staring at me aren't my friends…

"Um… I didn't know there were other mermaids around here…" I say. I'm trying to sound casual, but probably failing.

"We don't live here," one of them explains. I look at her to realise that she looks familiar.

"Wait… Elexis?" I ask. This is unbelievable. She looks at me questioningly, but then recognition shows on her face.

"Oh, it's Mel, right? This is my friend Lydia," she adds when I nod, pointing to the other mermaid. She has wavy blonde hair and blue eyes.

"Well… this is weird…" I say. "Y'know, I think I have to… go… do something… So… see ya round… I guess…"

"Bye," Lydia says as I turn and swim away.

* * *

"There are other mermaids?" Becca asks sceptically.

"Wow. I thought we were the only ones," Emily says.

"I know," I reply. "I couldn't believe it either. But they said they're not from here. I reckon they're just visiting someone or something."

"I think I already saw one of them," Lolly chips in. Emily, Becca and I turn to her, silently willing her to go on. "Well, I was swimming near the moon pool, and this other mermaid suddenly swam past me. I don't think she saw me though. She had short brown hair. Sound familiar?"

"Yeah, I think that's Elexis." I nod.

"So I wonder, like… who the hell they are," Becca says.

"I know. It's kind of weird that these random mermaids turned up, right? I mean, considering there are already mermaids here," Lolly says.

"Well actually, my mum just randomly turned up here without knowing there were other mermaids here. It's kind of like that. Maybe we should ask our parents a little more about this?" Emily suggests. "Y'know, about the whole mermaid thing in general, and exactly what happened with them when they were mermaids."

"Okay. When?" I ask.

Emily shrugs."Now?"

"Alright. Let's go."

* * *

**Lydia's POV**

"That was random… Who exactly was that?" I ask.

"Some girl I bumped into at the café earlier. She said her name was Melody."

I laugh. "Melody? That kind of fits. Remember that film we watched?"

Elexis rolls her eyes. "Oh, please. The Little Mermaid is just a fairy tale."

"Right, 'cause we're not fairy tales…"

"No. We're not. I know we're mermaids, but we used to be human. And people think Carys isn't real but she certainly is. She's the one who made us like this."

I hold up my hands in surrender. I hate it when Elexis snaps like that. "Truce?"

"Let's just go. I hate legs. They make me fall over," she mutters before ducking underwater and swimming away, me following closely behind.

* * *

"You're right about walking. It's awful. My legs hurt," I complain.

"Stop whining!" Elexis shouts.

"Grumpy…"

"I heard that," she snaps.

I roll my eyes. "You're no fun."

This time, Elexis chooses to ignore my comment, and we continue to walk to wherever it is that we're going. That reminds me…

"Elexis… Where are we going?" I ask.

"I told you already - you'll see when we get there."

"Are we at least nearly there?"

"Yes - no - I don't know."

I stop and grab Elexis's arm to stop her too. She pulls her arm out of my grip and turns to face me. "What?"

"You don't know where we're going either, do you?"

"Well… to be honest… no. Not really. We're kind of… lost…"

I groan. "Can we just go home. The beach is only over there"-I point to the golden sand and crystal ocean only a minute walk away from Elexis and me-"so it won't take long to get there. I hate walking!"

"Fine. You can go. But I want to try and find this place."

"What place? God, Elexis, you drive me crazy sometimes! We need to get back to the sea. We promised Penny and Ali we wouldn't stay here for long!"

"Penny's a bitch and Ali's annoying. If you want to leave so bad, then leave. I'll catch up with you."

"Fine! See how far you get without me!"

"I'll be much better off without you! You're the one trying to drag me back!"

"Elexis… Face it. We're never going to find Carys. We've been looking for years. Please just leave with me."

"I don't care how long we've been looking. I'll find her if it's the last thing I do." With that, Elexis sprints off, leaving me behind.

* * *

**A/N: Ooh, some new mermaids have arrived then. So like, the question is (questions are, whatever), who are Elexis, Lydia, Diana and Ali? And is this Penny the demented fake blonde or a different Penny? Leave the answers that you think in the reviews for a shout out because I need some more reviews, k? ;)**

**-Kat xxx**


	15. Chapter 15

***IMPORTANT* A****/N: For those of you who read Chapter Fourteen before this update, I had to change the name Diana because some of my research has proven to be wrong, so she is now called Carys. Sorry about that. :)**

**Shout out to alexiswritesfanfiction and H20 forever for reviewing. :) Also, I am now going to be editing some of H20 forever's work. Go check out her stuff. :)**

* * *

**Chapter Fifteen**

**Carys's POV**

Tap… Tap… Tap…

"June, will you stop pacing?" I ask my sister in annoyance. "Your heels keep tapping on the floor - it's making it really hard to concentrate!"

June stops in her tracks, then walks over to where I'm sitting. She crouches down and leans an elbow on the table I'm working on. "What is it that you need to concentrate on?" she asks with interest.

I stop writing and turn to my sister, my expression agonised. "They're close."

"Who? You mean… Sirena?"

I nod gravely. June's eyes widen. "But… they can't be."

"They are."

"We have to stop them."

I nod again. "At all costs. Don't worry, my dear sister, we shall stop them."

* * *

**Becca's POV**

"So Mum. When you were younger, did you ever meet any other mermaids?" I ask.

"Yes. There were two. One was a girl named Charlotte Watsford," Mum replies.

"What was the deal with her?"

"She found out that her grandmother Gracie used to be a mermaid, and then she found out about Cleo, Rikki and I. Eventually, she figured out how to become a mermaid herself. When she became one, she got all three of the Mako powers - that doesn't include Emily's power - and she thought she was better than us. She tried to get rid of our powers on the full moon after she got hers, but we ended up getting rid of her powers instead. We haven't seen her since."

"You can get rid of your powers?" I ask before quickly realising my own stupidity. Of course mermaids can get rid of their powers - mum and the others got rid of theirs.

"Once every fifty years, there's a special full moon that takes away your mermaid powers forever."

"Wait, but if it's every fifty years, how did you lose your powers."

"To this day, I still don't know."

"Oh. Okay. So anyway, who was the other mermaid?"

"A girl called Carys. I never got her last name, and I only knew her for a brief period of time. It was while I was travelling the world with your grandparents and uncle. I met her one day while swimming. We didn't exactly become friends, but we were friendly. Then one day, she just left, and I never saw her again either."

"Interesting… Anyway, what else happened to you while you were a mermaid?"

Mum spends a while telling me about the adventures she had with her mermaid friends when they were younger, whilst I listen intently, hooked on her every word.

"You should sell this story to TV companies or something," I joke. "It's amazing! We could become famous!"

"Yeah, and while we're at it, your secret could be exposed. I don't think so Becca."

"Whatever…"

* * *

"Rebecca," Mrs Fuller says and I look up from the homework that I'm doing while I wait for my friends. "I'd just like to inform you that your volleyball lesson has been cancelled today. Miss Chapman, the swim teacher, isn't in today, so I need to teach the class. Can you please let Melody, Emily and Lola know next time you see them?"

"Okay," I reply. "Will do."

Mrs Fuller nods then walks away, just as Mel arrives at my table.

"Mrs Fuller said the volleyball lesson's been cancelled today."

"K. Have you seen Elexis and Lydia today?"

"No. Are they going to our school now then?"

"Looks like. I saw them hanging out with another girl and when I went over to them, she introduced herself as Ali. Then when I walked away, Penny came up to them. I think they're friends with her."

"Hmm… Interesting…"

* * *

I sink into a soft blue chair sitting to the side of the swimming pool. I love it when volleyball is cancelled…

"Hey Becca," a voice suddenly says, causing me to jump. Then I realise who it was - Mel. Emily's with her, but Lolly's nowhere to be seen.

"Hey guys. Where's Lolly?"

Emily smirks. "Where do you think?"

I look at her blankly until Mel rolls her eyes and then says, "Flirting with Connor."

"Oh… She's been doing that ever since he got here."

"Um, he only arrived, like, four days ago. And two of those days were the weekend…" Mel says.

"Oh, right, never mind…"

Then Lolly walks over to us and sits down too. I smile. "Been flirting with Connor, huh?"

Lolly blushes scarlett, although she tries her hardest to cover it up. "Please. I flirt with everybody. Uh, y'know, if they're a guy," she adds hastily.

"Well, that is true," Emily breaks in, laughing. Before I get the chance to embarrass Lolly any further, Mrs Fuller tells us to quieten down while she starts the lesson. I fidget on my seat while I wait for her to finish giving instructions. It's so boring. The only thing I can do is sit there, watching the swimmers…

"Omigod!" Mel suddenly exclaims in a whisper. Emily, Lolly and I turn to her, and she subtly taps on her head, indicating that she'll tell us through thinking.

Elexis and Lydia are swimming in the pool and they don't have tails!

What? Lolly asks, and turns to look at the pool. Wow, they are. But… how?

Wait. Which one's which? I ask. They're obviously the new girls but which one is Lydia and which is Elexis?

Um, Lydia's the one with blonde hair, and Elexis has brown hair. Mel describes them.

I turn to look, as does Emily, who then asks, How are they not mermaids?

I have no idea, Mel replies.

Me neither, Lolly says. When I saw Elexis, she was definitely a mermaid.

Once everyone's started splashing around, we have to stop talking through our power because it's too hard to concentrate, so we decide to talk in hushed voices instead.

"Well, considering we don't really have much more to say on this topic, why don't we talk about something else? Like what we discussed with our parents about when they were mermaids?" Emily suggests.

I nod, then begin to tell the others what my mum said. "Well, Lolly and Mel, your parents probably told you this too, but my mum told me about a mermaid they knew called Charlotte Watsford."

"Yeah, my parents told me about her," Mel says.

"Same." Lolly nods her head.

"Who was she?" Emily asks with curiosity, and I tell her all that Mum said about her. Lolly and Mel add parts that I didn't know, and by the time we're finished talking about her, I hate Charlotte triple the amount that I did before, and I don't even know her!

Then Emily tells us about some things her mum said. I'm only half listening really, because they're mostly just adventures that Bella had as a mermaid, but one thing she says really catches my attention.

"Oh, and she also told me that when she lived in Ireland, before she knew your parents, she met this mermaid called Carys, and-"

"Wait," I interrupt. "I think my mum met her too…"

"The same Carys?"

"Well, do you think there are many mermaids called Carys?"

"I… What did your mum say about her."

"She said she didn't get her last name, and she only knew her for a short while."

"My mum said the same thing…"

So I guess you could say things just got a whole lot weirder…

* * *

**A/N: So, who, or should I say, what *hint hint*, is Sirena? Any ideas? And has this chapter given any ideas on who Elexis, Lydia, and the others are?**

**Um, here's some random questions:**

**1. Who (or should I say what *hint hint*) do you think Sirena is?**

**2. Why do you think Elexis and Lydia didn't transform into mermaids in the swimming pool?**

**3. Who is your favourite character so far?**

**4. Would you like to see Emma, Cleo, Rikki and Bella become mermaids again?**

**5. Would you like there to be any mermen?**

**6. Do you have any random ideas for the story?**

**-Kat xxx**


End file.
